Essentially, Sloodle is a project which integrates Moodle with Second Life, providing a “Learning System for Virtual Environments.” Course features are basically the same what Moodle offers, but with an opportunity for students to interact in a virtual, 3D classroom. The cost (free) is also the same as Moodle, but the format does not allow for low-tech browser interfaces.

+

Essentially, Sloodle is a project which integrates Moodle with Second Life, providing a “Learning System for Virtual Environments.” '''Course features''' are basically the same what Moodle offers, but with an opportunity for students to interact in a virtual, 3D classroom. The '''cost''' (free) is also the same as Moodle, but the format does not allow for '''low-tech browser interfaces'''.

Contents

Content Management Systems

I believe there is no significant difference between these two tools. It is what they can do that makes them great. With these two CMS tools you can add many different kinds of content/modules, have multiple RSS feeds, different users with various access, and many other things. These two tools have the potential to dramatically change the way we think about the web and the way we build online experiences.

Essentially, Sloodle is a project which integrates Moodle with Second Life, providing a “Learning System for Virtual Environments.” Course features are basically the same what Moodle offers, but with an opportunity for students to interact in a virtual, 3D classroom. The cost (free) is also the same as Moodle, but the format does not allow for low-tech browser interfaces.

Web Conferencing

Pros
All the meetings that used to be held in the conference hall can now be held in individual offices and this saves both time and money.
Avoid all the nuances associated with traveling (all locations)
The web conference call can be recorded and put to use at a later stage.
Fast, cheap, and easy
I believe it’s free. I can’t find a price.

One of the world’s first open source web-based Web2.0 audio/video conference call software for Asterisk with support for internet & telephony user videos. This VoIP and VVoIP technology for Business, Government, Education, Healthcare and Community is based on WinFX, XAML, .NET 3.0 and Asterisk.

Cons
Detail planning is essential for its success.
Need to have high discipline and high level of concentration.
The web cam, microphone and other gadgets need to be in proper position and in good working condition.
One staff person to run the technical part of any conference. This could also be an under utilization of staff time.
There can be a lot of wasted time that can cause disruptions, etc. It can also sometimes be difficult to really see how a particular client or group may be reacting via video conferencing.

It’s a Windows only program that currently requires all users to download an installer to upgrade .NET, make sure Flash is up to date and install a certificate into IE.

Screen sharing hardly works yet, the conference admin can only get a very low quality view of participants’ screens and participants cannot view the admin’s screen.

Packaged as a RPM which handles the installation and configuration on Linux
Support for Mouse Cursor for LAN/T1 Connection.
Support for incremental screen updates during Desktop and Application Share to enhance performance.
Support for 1024X768 or higher screen resolution and wide screen aspect ratios .
Support for Option to choose content type (i.e. text or graphics) to publish. Using this option the publisher can chose the type of content to be published, which will improve performance while maintaining quality.
Enhanced error messages for Schedule/Start Conference Console

This release integrates Moodle and Dimdim and one can schedule, start and join Dimdim Webmeetings from a Moodle installation

Lots of updates and working through the bugs.

Future versions will fully support Firefox on Mac, Linux and Windows

Presenters can share their whole desktop or just a single application at a time with attendees. Audio and video transmission is one way from presenter to attendees, from a Flash box in the sidebar. Attendees chat with each other and the presenter.

DimDim sounds as though it will do just about everything Webex does, except it will be free

The product is promising a good set of features:
Presentation and Document sharing
Audio and video sharing
Application sharing
White board and Annotations
Chat
Polls
Question manager
Record and Archive
There will be a Community version, free, and an Enterprise version which will have a dollar price tag to cover a range of value-adds.
Integrated voice and web cam functionality: working on making this bidirectional.
DimDim is presence aware, and will integrate all major instant messaging systems.
They're going for 100% transparency as a company, with code 100% open source, roadmap and technical documentation available online, etc.
1. Ajax-based web meeting console. No client-side application necessary.

Cons
Presenters can use Internet Explorer 6 or Firefox 1.5 on Windows (XP/2000/2003) only
Chat in double-byte languages does not work.
Once the Application Sharing is stopped then the Firefox Presenter Window is not restored back.
Dimdim Conference Publisher and Flash Controls are not localized.
Firefox 1.5 plugins which store the state of the session/tabs might not function as expected during Dimdim Web Meeting Publisher upgrade.
Certain times the publisher bar close button needs to be clicked twice for the publisher bar to close.
Resolution on the shared screen isn’t great but lag time was very low

If you go with a hosted software, one that is housed on someone else's server, you will always have similar issues. There are usually adds and you will have less customization options. If you have to install the software, then you will be able to change the look and feel of the wiki to match your web site. You will also gain more control over the kind of access people are given. There are many other options for wiki software. For a complete list, see the Wiki Matrix.

Live Chat Tools

Chat rooms allow a group of people to communicate via text-based chat in a real-time conference. There are many free and inexpensive options that provide this functionality. This section provides details about four of these tools: Campfire, Zoho Chat, Meebo, and AIM. This section does not address the possible integration of a chat extension or module within a content management system (e.g., Drupal, Joomla). Both Moodle and Sakai, course management systems, include chat room functionality as well. Integrating asychronous chat within a course website should certainly be considered.

Of the four, stand-alone chat tools evaluated here, we recommend Zoho Chat since it includes the most features and is completely free. It is web-based, so participants will not need to download and install any software. In addition, it does not require an instant messaging (IM) account which is seen as an advantage since IM software and services are sometimes blocked.

Campfire

Campfire is a web-based group chat service that can be accessed from any computer with a web browser. This chat service is fee-based, but it does have a free version. With a Campfire account, you can create multiple chat rooms and have up to 60 simultaneous chatters (depending on the account plan). Transcripts are ordered chronologically and searchable. Campfire also allows file sharing (file space depends on the account plan). Accounts can have an unlimited number of members who are invited via email. Members have access to transcripts and files and can be restricted to specific chat rooms if desired. Guest access can be turned on or off in individual chat rooms. Guests are invited to specific chats via email. They cannot see transcripts, nor can they see the previous conversations that took place in a chat room.

Cost: Price ranges from free (up to 4 simultaneous chatters) to $49/month (up to 60 simultaneous chatters); No set up or termination fees

Zoho Chat

Zoho Chat is a free, web-based chat service that can be accessed from any computer with a web browser. You can create groups of registered Zoho users and then initiate chats with those groups. Once a chat has begun, guests can be invited to participate via a unique URL if desired. Guest access can be turned on or off. Transcripts are automatically saved in chronological order and are searchable, but they can be deleted if desired. Guests do not have access to transcripts. Previous chats can be restarted by opening up the saved transcript and continuing the conversation. Zoho Chat also allows file sharing.

Meebo

Meebo is a free, web-based instant messaging (IM) service that lets you log in to all of your IM networks from any computer with a web browser. It has a group chat feature that lets anyone with an IM account create a new group chat or join an existing chat room. To use this service for group chats, everyone who needs to participate in the group chat must have an IM account with the same provider (e.g., AIM, Yahoo, etc.). The Meebo group chat does not have file sharing capability, nor can transcripts be saved.

Cost: Free

Download: No, web-based

Transcripts: No

File Sharing: No

Number of Chatters: ?

Registration: All participants must have accounts with the same IM client

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)

AIM is instant messaging software that you can download and install for free. This software has a chat room feature that lets you create private chat rooms for specific groups of people. All of the participants must have an AIM account. In addition, you can automatically save chat transcripts and share files.